User blog:FanCy/WIKI Art Online - Chapter 1
WIKIアート・オンライン Floor 1: Part I «THE BEGINNING» In the year 2022, mankind finally built a full virtual environment. 12:57 3 more minutes ... 13:00 Gegi sighed, looking around here, she realized she was the first of her friends to enter the game. I mean, that's okay, she knows they're coming, but they were all really excited for the game and time is being wasted. She waited around for a little longer. Her friends she was playing the game with Ash and Lizzy, had surely started the game engine, but knowing them, they were probably still in character selection. Typical, Gegi thought to herself. There was already so many people in the towns square of wherever this spawn city is...but Gegi's patient. She'd just wait. They couldn't take THAT much longer could they? Eh. Well, they can, and most likely will. Looking around, Gegi admired the customization for this game. She always loved the look of the characters on fantasy, especially the particularly anime-styled MMORPGs. She hasn't played much...no, she honestly hasn't played at all. But she has looked. Anyway, as a notable okatu, or anime enthusiast, she loved the eccentric look of characters in these sort of games. The best part about it is that she was in the game. Like, how amazing is that. It's like you're not only playing an anime-game, but you're in the anime itself! The gray hair, the green, the purple, the blue, even hers – which was purple, it all amazed her. At this point, Gegi realizes she COULD wait more. But, hell, Ash and Lizzy know her IGN, they could add her up once they're in game, and they can converse that way. She wanted to explore. Everyone is just relaxing in the commons here, chilling with friends, meeting up with their IRL friends, socializing, all that jazz. What did she want to do? She joined here to play the game, she wants to get to the full-dive part of playing a full-dive MMORPG. She wants to get out into those fields, start leveling up, ADVENTURE. There's always time for socialization in between. And at that point, in the corner of her eye, Gegi spotted a guy rushing through the crowd – seemingly toward the battle fields. He stook out like a sore thumb, she was a bit surprised and couldn't react initially. Out of all the eccentric apperances around her comes out of the crowd with an average structure and ebony hair. Not only that, but he was heading right towards where he wanted to go. She sprinted to catch up with him, "Hey! Wait up. By any chance, are you heading towards the battle fields?" "Oh. I'm, yeah I am, actually." "Would you mind if I tagged along?" "...I mean, well, no I wouldn't. But why?" "Well, I'm new to this whole MMO thing. I really haven't played anything like this before. I mean, not even two-dimensionally, through a computer screen. And a first experience through a computer screen. Crazy! And you seem to know what you're doing, it'd help tons man." "No, of course it's all right, don't worry about it. Just wondering, are you a solo player as well, or just starting off as one." "Oh no, I'm not. I joined this game with my friends Ash and Lizzy. I'm not very picky when it comes to stuff like character creation. Clearly though, they are. You know though, girls will be girls." He laughed, "Yeah, didn't see much girls in the commons yet, besides you and a few others, maybe." Gegi smiles, "Well yeah, I'm okay with it though. It's just, I joined to play a game. I don't want to spend my time socializing and all. I waited long for this game, and just wanna really play it, out in the field. You know." "Actually, yeah. I know what you mean a lot. I don't socialize in these games too much. I'm a bit, well, awkward." "You mentioned you're a solo player, yeah?" "Yup." "Well, maybe I could introduce you to Ash and Lizzy once they're in and if they find me, which they prolly will. I mean, they're great, I'm sure the three of you would get on just fine! Solo players still have friends, right." He blushed, he always got extra awkward when his playing style was brought up, he was actually quite the loner, "Yeah, we have friends alright. Thanks though, I'd be honored to meet them, once they catch up." "Great, shall we?" "Yup. Let's go." "What's your name, by the way?" "Ah, well my IGN is Jerzas, but my real name is Kieran. Most just call me Kieran." "Oh, all right. My name is Gegi." They both opened up their social panels and added eachother. ---- Tori has probably been one of the first people to spawn into the commons. And well, more than likely the first person to be in the battle fields. She has probably been in the field for an hour, all right, maybe a half hour, forty-five minutes? Hell, she wasn't keeping track. But at that time, she was resting to regenerate her HP (health points) and MP (mana points) when she noticed a pair of players walzing into the field. They couldn't see her, but she could see them – one of the perks of being of the sharpshooter class, the hawk eye vision. "Damn it," she muttered to herself, "must be a pair of lovers infiltrating my vincinity. No thank you." The fuck, anyways? Looking at them, she realizes that the guy has a fish... as his pet. And the girl, she had a dolphin as a pet. I mean, what? "I dunno if they got the memo, but this is an inland game...at least I think it is anyway. Mostly, at least. Why do they have aquatic pets available, anyway?" she muttered again, this time while feeding her blue penguin some fish. "What am I going to name you, by the way. You're my lil pumpkin, but I also love the name Pimp-kun. Happy, I love that name, but I'm not a happy soul. We're going with 'pimpkin'." Tori had actually considered earlier about getting this red shark pet, but the penguin was her favorite animal. Actually no it isn't. Dinosaurs are. But naturally, they don't have that as a pet. Penguins are a fair second place though. Plus, she didn't have time to fool around on characterization. She had moved from the field to the town area of this battle field. You know, the neutral zones where the monsters can't chase you, or attack you. Where you repair your armor and buy Health, Mana Potions, along other golorious shit. She was never too fond of sharing farming areas with other people. And a pair? Fuck. That's twice the hoggage. She didn't even want to think about how leveling and farming in the game would be at full force. On the plehtora of MMORPG's that Tori has played over the many years, she had always really been a solo player. I mean some solo players just grind, quest, etc alone, but will party up when it's necessary. Tori wasn't that kind. She'd avoid partying up at any consequence. It's costed her a lot of embarassing deaths – in dungeon, and even on normal bosses, in front of everyone. But hell, she never learns that human contact can be alright. Will she ever? ---- Kieran had been wondering on their walk to the fields, "Hey, by the way, you never told me your class. Would help me in helping me out, you know." "Oh, yeah. I'm a 'shinigami', I guess. I can summon demons or something like that to help me with battles." "Yeah. You looked the part. You could probably guess it if you knew anything about MMORPG's. But, I'm the warrior class. It's a pretty basic class. I basically have a lot of weapons I can use and have a lot of melee combat DPS." "DPS?" "Oh, right. Keep forgetting you're a newb. It means 'damage per second', but it doesn't literally mean that. It's just what us gamers call it. It basically means I deal a lot of melee damage. It's sort of like a Sharpshooter for ranged fighting, or an Archmage for magic fighting." "Archmage? So I don't do a lot a damage." "Oh. No, no. High DPS isn't limited to certain role, it involved a lot of build. Your sort of class is still really strong. Really, all of the classes have good versatility and can either go a defensive or damage route." "Alright. Thanks. Man, I could really get into this game! Just gaming in general. I've had so much fun so far, especially with you, and I feel like it just started." Kieran blushed, "Well, it did just start, technically. The game launched less than an hour ago." "Damn it. You're such a smart alec." "Smart alec? Hell, I haven't heard that one in years." "Yeh. Neither have I." Kieran was too nervous and embarassed to say it, but he was really enjoying her company too, a lot. They both continued on their journey. Fuck, I ship it, what about you guys? ---- Ash was sitting in the commons, in a resting area adjacent to where all the players were spawning. There were a lot of people around, waiting for people, and portals constantly appeared, in different places per second...Ash just waited for her best friends – Lizzy and Gegi to spawn. She was waiting for a while and was growing a bit impatient. Finally, Lizzy showed up. She was angry ... hella angry. Ash knew how dangerous that situation was, she was on guard. Ash was trying to pull Lizzy out of more populated area of the commons, but it didn't do much help. "WHAT, HOW...THE FUCK. NO." Lizzy then started spurting gibberish, something along the lines of "kdfdkjfbdkvkvsdhcasjhfd" or so. Basically, verbal key smashing. "Whats wrong bae?" "THERE. IS. NOT. A. SHOTA. PET." "Well that's probably because-" "I WAS GOING TO NAME IT ARMIN. "A person isn't a pet." "ARMIN COULD OF BEEN MY PET." Ash pets on Lizzy's head, "It's okay, I'm here." Ash then realizes something, "Wait, you spent this...nearly an hour prolly... in character customization, because you wanted a shota pet, and you couldn't find it?" "WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!! YOU'D BE THE SAME WAY IF YOU FOUND OUT THEY DON'T HAVE AN EREN PET!!" "...They don't..." "SO HOW LONG DID YOU TAKE TO CUSTOMIZE?" "...I spawned like, I don't know. Ten, fifteen minutes ago?" "SO YOU TOOK JUST NEARLY ENOUGH AS TIME. WHY IS THAT?" "I didn't know if I wanted the good cheekbones, or hella good cheekbones. I didn't know if I wanted the green eyes, the brown eyes, or the hazel eyes. I didn't know if I wanted the red hair or the brown hair, every other customization option. Don't you know how indecisive I am?" "Oh I fucking know all right." "So, what did you chose for your pet after all that." "I got a slime. Fuckin' rad right?" "...Sure. The pet was probably the only easy option for me." "The fuck? What did you get then?" "A banana. I named it Makoto." "You're god damn insane." "And that's why we're best friends. Two peas in a pod" ---- Michi had been in the commons of the main city for a while now. She joined the game pretty quickly, just about the time it started. Customization didn't take long. Seemingly, she's always on point. But she didn't continue into the world yet. She needed to relax. And well her partner... Her partner in this process isn't as "on point" as she is. "Alayaaaaaaaa??" Michi called. Alaya is Michi's junior by several years... Michi isn't exactly sure what brought her to being so close to Alaya, they just sort of...clicked, instantly. She loved her, but Alaya can be quite a piece of work sometimes. I mean, Michi doesn't blame her, she's a few years younger and not at the same maturity level. She still couldn't ask for a better best friend. Every floor of Sword Art Online has a very special, intrecet design. Seeing the image of the one-hundred floor tower, it doesn't look it but the resources and space available to players is damn unbelieveable. Where most players are right now, it's referred to as the common area. The common area of floor one anyway. It's the "city" of the floor. Every floor has it's own diverse and developed city and towns area with lots of stuff to do. Stuff that can be elaborated at a later time because I don't have that time of day. It's sort of like, a city IRL, so much to do. If a player wanted, they could enjoy the city live and socializing, rather than contiuially progress through the game. But players spawn in the entrance area to the city; new players will spawn in the floor one city, once a player beats a floor, exiting the final dungeon, they'll be spawned to the city of the next area. Each floor has a diverse area of "villages" or "towns" a lot of them, each offering new challenges – quests to do, monsters to defeat, dungeons, etc. It's where they level. Each area also has sort of a resource area, where they can rest in between leveling or whatever they're doing in the towns, if they don't want to travel back to the city – they offer some essentials the city does, just health and mana pots, armor repairs, etc. And just spots to relax altogether. Anyway, not that THAT is off my chest. I felt an odd obligation to expand on my vision of this world. It's sort of irrelevant. But yea, anyway... Alaya was sort of flakey. Well, not flakey. She's spontaneous. Michi isn't waiting for her to spawn or looking for her or anything; or she'd be waiting in the spawn area. Since they spawned, Alaya and Michi have been relaxing in the city, that's about it. But Alaya is one of those spontaneous kind that will have a pretty difficult time even staying still. She's drifted off wandering throughout the city several times, without Michi noticing – and with Michi having to look for her ONCE she notices. Alaya loves Michi and all, just as much as Michi loves her, but she's too...curious... to just wait for stuff. She wanted to wander. That's not quite what she was doing though...this time. Through the big buildings of the city, there's cracks and little spaces where people can fit through (just like open spaces where one person or even several people can get away from the public if they need space) Well if they need space or..."alone time". Alaya was sort of around the bank building. Eventually, Michi was calling for her around there. Alaya dropped her magazine right down and went out and called, "Michi!!!" Damn though, she was hoping, not even hoping...praying for dear life that Michi wouldn't see where she was coming from – from behind of the bank. She did. "The living fuck were you doing behind the BANK, babe?" Alaya quickly readjusts herself to be standing next to the bank NPC, "Oh I was just depositing some." "We joined the game like an hour ago. You don't have any gold or items to deposit." "Right." "And you came from BEHIND the bank, not by that NPC." "Whew, was just taking a lap. Staying in shape and all. You know how I love to...move. With like, exercise, yeah." "We're in a damn video game. You don't have to stay in shape." Michi moves to go behind the building. "Waiiiiiiit babe, where are you going?" Alaya tries to block Michi's way, but again, with Michi having about four years on Alaya, she easily moves her out of the way – practically able to pick her up and turn her in another direction, like they do in the TV shows... but anyways, she makes her way through. And once getting behind the building, she notices a magazine, or something along that structure. Upon picking it up, Michi, knowing Alaya better than anyone, knows exactly what it is without looking into it. "Alaya...how did you get your hands on these...in a GAME?" "Michi...." Michi starts to read out the cover of the magazine, "Fight Me, Bite Me – originally from AO3" "mICH..." "I'm not done-- Gray has a secret kink for immobilizing people. Natsu is too scared to let himself get intimate with anyone unless he is restrained. When a nightmare brings them together, the two rivals realize that the only partner who could handle their bizarre fetishes...is each other!" "Ba—" "Ah-ah, still not done. Some of the massive list of categories include: Ice Play, Nipple Play, Temperature Play, Face Fucking, Peeing on Eachother, Bad BDSM Etiquette, Stalker Juvia..?..." Alaya was visibly upset, "I'm sorry babe, I probably disgust you." "Oh, hell no you don't. I'm just teasing. I love you. Where'd you even get this anyway." "Over here," she guides Michi on a walk to the shopping district of the city "You know this game is anime styled right? You can see by the character design. What's living in an anime-like world without manga? And just books! Fanfictions are sort of like books. Some are illustrated to actual manga though, not sure if these yaoi erotica ones are well...legal to illustrate, though. They wouldn't sell it to someone as young as me anyways. But the words are enough for me. And they update the stocks. Like if I spend a day in here, I can still read my Ereri 365 too! You can too, you like Ereri too right?" "ERERI. IS. ILLEGAL. How many times do I have to tELL YOU?!" "If we were any more attached, we'd be illegal, think about it. I love you too, by the way." Michi thought, damn was she one yaoi crazy girl. It wasn't normal, but hell, who's normal? ---- "Wait, Lizzy did you hear that?" Ash and Lizzy were also in the shopping district, nearby. "What?" "Someone mentioned Ereri I think, I think from over there." "The manga and fanfiction is over there." "...the WHAT?" "Yep." "I bet they have eRERI 365!!!" Lizzy drags Ash over to where there's a bunch of cute boys, "Look, Ashy!" "Oh. My. God." A particularly cute boy walks out to Ash, "Hey." Whew, he's so nonchalant and collected, keep it cool Ash, keep it cool, "Konnichiwa !!!" He laughed, "What's your name?" "Ash, or well... my IGN is HeartAche. But ah you, can just call me Ash, everyone does. What about yours?" "Well, my IGN is KiraWorshipper69, feel free to add me." Lizzy intervenes, she knows where this could lead, "Ashy..." "YES????!" "We have to go, sorry bruh." "I'LL take A potato CHIP and...EAT IT...." Lizzy drags her away from public, the way Ash did earlier after Lizzy spawned. "THATS RIGHT. I AM KIRA. I AM KIRA AND I AM THE GOD OF THE NEW WORLD! KIRA IS THE LAW OF THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. KIRA IS MAINTAINING ORDER. I AM ALREADY JUSTICE. THE HUMAN RACE AND THE WORLD'S ONLY HOPE. ARE YOU GOING TO KILL ME? IS THAT REALLY THE RIGHT THING TO DO? SINCE KIRA APPEARED 6 YEARS AGO, WARS HAVE STOPPED AND GLOBAL CRIME RATES HAVE DECREASED BY 70 PERCENT. BUT THE WORLD IS STILL ROTTEN! THERE ARE STILL TOO MANY ROTTEN PEOPLE! SOMEONE'S GOT TO DO IT! WHEN I GOT THE NOTEBOOK, I KNEW I HAD TO DO IT! NO, I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO WOULD DO IT! I KNOW THAT KILLING PEOPLE IS A CRIME...BUT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO FIX THE WORLD! THAT'S RIGHT. THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN CREATE THE NEW WORLD IS ME." "It's okay Ashy." ---- Tori sighed, "I was doing pretty well in that zone too, I gained a few levels." She didn't really care too much, though. I mean, they had to be just about the only three people on the battle fields at the time. There's plenty of other places on this floor where she could grind. She thought, Whatever, those boars are level one, anyways. I got a few levels from them in that time, anyways. There's plenty I could do now. I mean, in this next field, I'll do just as fine. I sorta hate people though. Why are they always in my way? Stepping into the next lane, Tori was pretty confident in her position. She defeated the mobs pretty easily. "Dunno why I've been making a fuss about having to move onto the next field. My exp and money gain is so much better here anyway." That was, until... She was battling the mobs still when she used an AoE, testing it out and all; even if she didn't kill all the mobs in the destinated area, she could kill them still without dying. You know those mini-bosses on maps, the sort that look pretty much exactly like the mobs they spawn around, just slightly larger. Basically, it was one of those things. "Whatever, never I can't handle." Pretty arrogant, if you ask me. She was actually genuinely worried. Dying on floor one – on one of the first fields? No, damn pathetic. You're a pro, act it. This is where a newb sharpshooter class would die – easily. But then again, newbs to the field have a hard time player as a SS, they'll usually reroll if they don't get a hang of it quick – which is a few. Playing the class calls for pro mobility. Given SS have at base, a low defense, and their melee attacks are less than worthy of mention – quite pathetic, actually – but, as the ranged DPS if they can keep their distance, their damage output is purely gawking. Through SS jumpback skills, and plain running around, Tori was able to kill all the mobs after her, including the boss, but not without losing half her health. "Damn. Never lost that much HP in such a noob zone. Pathetic. I'm exhausted though. I should go back to the town." "Hey, why are you talking to yourself?" "whAT The fUCK?!" She turned around to see another girl standing there. She looked like she was a sharpshooter too. "Who are you?" "My name in here in Lolason—" "Well damn, I can't spell that. Doubt I can pronounce it either. I'll just call you Lola." "That's not actually my name, though." "Alright, what do you want me to call you?" "My name is Alex." "Okay, Alex, now what the fu—" With the conversation distracting them, they didn't ever leave the battle field, and as a mini-boss, it had a short respawn time... and as a boss, it attacks any player in it's direct vicinity. It spawned just damn near on TOP on Alex. "Woah, watch out!" Tori warned her, but Alex's health was already being chopped up. Tori easily took the aggro off her though, and killed it without a few skill attacks – just to make it quicker and easier on her. "Ow, thank you. I probably would of died there." "The hell, have you leveled at all?" "Well no. The game just started less than two hours ago." "Oh, well. You're in the second quadrant of the battle fields though. Typically, you'd battle in the first field until you gained a few levels to come here." "Sorry. I'm very new to the gaming in general. I tried battling the boars in the first quadrant but... I'm not very good. I just thought I could wait for someone of the same branch to help me out, at least a little." "Sure. But don't stick around. I'm a solo player." "All right. I owe you, though." "You don't owe me anything. Just..I'll show you the ropes." Still though, Alex is really excited, "Okay!" "Having second thoughts on not letting you die, though." ---- "Lizzy, where do you think Gegi is, by the way?" "Oh my God. I completely forgot. I thought she'd just come to us once she spawned." "What do you reckon made her take longer than us anyway, do you think." "Yeah, I know? She isn't the picky kind like we... I mean, you... can be." "Says Ms. Shota Pet." "Fuck you." "But really, where is she?" "I mean. I'd say it's probably the chosing between the hair colors, like she's going to want purple, then blue, then green, and it goes on. Damn unbearable when she finds out that you can buy makeup capsules if you want to alter your appearence slightly." "MAKE. UP. CAPSULES." "Ashy, calm." "I can see her being on the hair for a few more hours though." "Have you tried adding her, by the way?" "No I should, though. One sec." Ash opened her social panel and added "Gegi", and much to her surprise...it followed through, which wouldn't have happened if Gegi wasn't done in character customization. She told Lizzy about it. ---- Kieran and Gegi had been grinding for about an hour, maybe more, in the first quadrant. "I can't believe it's been a hour we've been here," Gegi sighed. "Yeah. It went by fast." It's unbelievable to her how easily the time went by with him. I mean, the little time she spent waiting for Ash and Lizzy felt like God damn hours compared to this one hour, which felt like minutes had gone by. There was something between them. But what is it? Partners in crime, best friends, more? Gegi wish she knew. Kieran wish he knew. "Oh my God, I completely forgot about Ash and Lizzy, Kieran, they're definitely in the commons by now." "Oh my. Um, I'm sorry I took up so much time of yours." "No, it's fine. This was an amazing time. You've helped me so much. I hope we can play like this a lot more. And all.." "Oh, without a doubt. I know I'm a solo player, but you can call me up anytime you want. I'll help you and or your friends with anything you need. I'm here when you need it." "I'm sorry you can't meet them yet though. It's getting late. I should probably find them in commons and we probably have to go. We're roommates IRL, and we have plans, we were just giving this a go for a few hours. I'll see you later though. Of course!" ---- Something happens and all the players throughout the fields, different parts of the city, are all transported/summoned to the center of the city, a big discussion and gathering area. Its really crowded. Every player is there. The spawning center is no longer ringing, it's quite dead. And they're all confused. What's going on. A cloaked figure appears in the air and the skys turn dark, and he begins to speak – as it appears, the figure is the GM, game master. "Attention, players. I welcome you to my world. My name is Akihiko Kayaba. And as of this moment, I am in control of this world. I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus -- the log out button. Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game. I repeat, this is not a defect. This is how "Sword Art Online" was designed to be. You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the "NerveGear" from your head. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life. Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began. They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world. As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best. I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game. It's important to remember the following: There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game. If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever. And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain. There is only one way for a player to escape now -- you must clear the game. Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor. Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game. Right now, you are probably wondering why. Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of Sword Art Online and NerveGear, do this? Ultimately, my goal was a simple one. The reason I created Sword Art Online was to control the fate of a world of my design. As you can see, I have achieved my goal. This marks the end of the tutorial and the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." ---- ---- ---- Category:Blog posts